


something has to change

by chokokyatto



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, idk this is really underdeveloped i just wanted to post it USHDFKJA
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21504292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chokokyatto/pseuds/chokokyatto
Summary: John's life is changing in ways that can really only mean that he's the protagonist of a Disney Channel movie. That is to say, he's the new kid in school. And maybe it's not as easy as he thought it would be. Maybe.(title from something has to change by the japanese house.)
Relationships: Jade Harley/Rose Lalonde, John Egbert/Dave Strider
Kudos: 14





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> ok i'll be honest i have barely started to rewrite idwsd so in the meantime have this aka i just moved to a new school and i need to talk about it in a form that is not just a diary entry. 
> 
> ships and additional characters ahoy i'm just gonna update as i want. 
> 
> titled in my google drive as "no i am not projecting onto john egbert i just like to cope w my comfort characters katie jesus mind your own business"
> 
> thanku

Everything is new to John. New streets, new kids, new teachers, new classrooms. He’s not one of those kids whos moved around all their lives. He could have bet his computer on the fact that he would live in Washington for all of his adolescent life. 

He knows his house like the back of his hand, knows the grooves in the railings and the dents in the wall. All of them have a story and every part of his house has grown with him, like moss to a tree and grass woven tight into the ground. Even the sidewalks in his town and the asphalt of the streets is worn with familiarity. The stores and the structures that he can navigate with his eyes closed.

So the announcement his father gave to him only two months ago was a shock right into the core of the Earth for him, and the dust still hasn’t settled quiet yet. Chicago? A city he’s heard of his whole life but has never seen once? Hell, even Illinois is a concept far away from him. He’s pretty sure that’s the state with the cornfields, right? 

Moving into a new home was the easy part. He shed tears for the only home he’s ever know weeks ago. He’d been too busy trying to fit his stuff into his new room just right. Like puzzle pieces. 

No, the real hardship is the one he faces right now; a new school. He’s only got 3 years left, so soon this whole fiasco should be behind him, but right now all he can see is how different everything is from his old life. 

All he can see is how hard it will be to fit back in.


	2. get it together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i forgot i was writing this jesus sorry

September 4th. The dreaded first day of school. God, get it together, Egbert.

John wakes up as soon as his alarm goes off, on edge even out of consciousness. He tries to go through his day as calmly and routinely as possible. He knows who to brush his teeth and wash his face and put on his shorts; he’s been doing it his whole life. But he can’t stop the shakiness of his legs or his sweating palms. And it’s freaking annoying because his nervousness is really throwing off his game. John tries to hastily get himself together to leave the house on time. He wishes so bad that maybe his dad will pity him on the first day of school and drop him off at the front, but alas, there will be none of that today. 

His school starts at 8:00, a whole hour before his dad, but Dad is, of course, making himself coffee to go with his fresh-baked quick biscuits. Fuck. 

“Dad, uh, I’m off now,” John says, hesitating on his way to the door just in case Dad wants to drive him, but he doesn’t bite. So John is given a “I’m so proud of you, son” farewell and headed out the door. 

The travel from door to school is easy in theory, but John has never taken the CTA (or any public transit, for that matter) before, and he makes his way nervously to the 8 bus. He finds a seat easily, covered in stains but empty at the least, and he can ignore the strange man talking to himself enough to watch the cars and streets pass while they roll down Halsted. 

By the time John gets to school, however, he’s a mess of nerves all over again. He doesn’t have his schedule so he really doesn’t know where the hell he needs to go for first period. There's a steady stream of kids funnelling through the front door with him, but he’s scared as he grabs his bag from the conveyor belt by the metal detector, because he still has no clue where he’s going. This was not how school was done in Washington. 

Eventually he finds himself following the largest group of kids to the lunch room, where schedules are being handed out. 

“ID number?” he’s asked by the kids handing out papers at the front table.

John scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh, I’m new, so I dunno.”

“Alright, name?”

“John Egbert.”  
The student rummages through his papers, but finds nothing. John doesn’t know how to react to not having a schedule, but the student explains that they’ve been having a problem with that all morning, and that he would be well to sit at the other end of the lunch room with the other lost kids.

John is at least somewhat calmed by the fact that others are in the same boat, and he sits at a mostly empty table, populated only by another boy, with tan skin and side swept blonde hair. 

He awkwardly squirms around, trying to busy himself with his phone, deciding whether or not to try to make conversation with his fellow man. John doesn’t remember feeling this weird and anti-social before. And what’s the worst that could happen? He gets made fun of for being new? For his overbite and glasses and shy demeanor and oh my god maybe so. But he decides that he at least needs to grow a pair and try to make new friends, the school experience will be way easier with a familiar face, and looks up. 

The kid is already looking at him (he thinks, because he’s now facing John’s direction, but his eyes are obscured with a dated pair of sunglasses), and John breaks out into a sweat. 

“Uh, hey. I’m John.”

The kid shifts ever so slightly, nodding his chin and greeting back with a “‘Sup.”

“You don’t have a schedule either, huh?”

“Nah, but what else can you expect from this bat shit school,” he replies, leaning back in his chair, “Shit is so messed up out here, you can’t even get through the day without stepping in the most disgusting amalgamation of turds and pizza or getting chem interrupted by some moron with baggy pants.”

John… was not expecting that response. This kid is an obvious mix of awkwardness and pseudo-confidence, but he also seems to be fucking hilarious. John wants to be friends with him so bad. 

“Wow, you must know a lot about this place.”  
He gets a shrug. “Yeah, almost all CPS schools are like this anyway. You’d find this crap anywhere you went; it’s so dumb it’s embarrassing.”

John laughs at that, but feels somewhat relieved that this is the bat shit school he stepped into.

“I’m Dave by the way,” he continues.

John smiles at that, and reaches his arm out in a handshake.

“Hey Dave, it’s nice to meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> SHORT ASF but i'll add At Least Another Chapter


End file.
